GENERATION 




Faust 




Glass. 
Book. 



.JqT_;19j1_ 

El 



Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



REGENERATION 



S. D. FAUST, A.M., D.D. 

Professor in Union Biblical Seminary 




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Dayton, Ohio 

United Brethren Publishing House 

1902 



THF UBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cores Recsjved 

SEP, 4 1902 

Copyright entry 
CLu* /S. /<?o*- 
3LASS O-XXft No. 

COPY B. 



ft) 



Copyright 1902, by W. H. Funk, Agent 
All rights reserved 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Under a most beautiful figure, the first repre- 
sentative of our race, fresh from the Creator's 
hands, is said to have been placed in a garden. 
He was to keep it; that is, to direct and enlarge 
its powers of production. Everything in it he 
was to use for his own subsistence and advance- 
ment, with a single exception. This exception was 
pointed out to him as bearing the power of death. 
A thousand agencies invited to life; a single one 
threatened death. 

Two commands had been given him in love. 
They had reference to his relations to the earth, 
as fresh from the Creator's hands as himself. One 
enjoined him to fill this new earth with a race 
bearing the stamp and image of himself, which 
was also that of his Creator. The other one sug- 
gested his natural supremacy over the life and 
forces of this new world, into which he had been 

iii 



Introductory 

placed, and commanded that he subdue them; 
that is, become master of them, for in so doing he 
would subdue the earth itself. "And God said 
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replen- 
ish the earth, and subdue it." 

But his ability to render obedience to these two 
commands, exhibiting his appointed relations to 
the natural world, was made dependent upon the 
character of his actions in the garden. If here he 
was obedient then all else appointed him would 
follow easily and naturally; but if disobedient 
then the shadows and pangs of death would settle 
down upon him, and follow him and his posterity. 
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely 
eat : but of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil ; thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 

He at once lived in two worlds. In the one be- 
fore him stretched out forest, and prairie, and 
sea ; and above, the blue canopy of heaven. In the 
other was a planted garden, watered, and ap- 
pointed solely for him. In the one he was to give 
himself to the functions of animal life, have do- 
minion over other forms of animal life, and gain 
the mastery over the material universe of which 

iv 



Introductory 

he was himself a part. In the other he was "to 
dress it and keep it," to choose his highest good 
in obedience to his Creator's command, in that 
which appealed to himself as "good for food/' "a 
delight to the eyes/' and "to be desired to make 
one wise/' He was an inhabitant upon the earth, 
but he was also a citizen of a kingdom whose holy 
sovereign was his Creator. 

He fell. From this kingdom his act of disobe- 
dience made him an alien, for here no subject as- 
serts himself in contradiction to his sovereign. 
The choice of self -gratification unfitted him for 
citizenship in the garden. He was sent forth, 
now, to struggle for subsistence and dominion. 
Now an alien, by an act of his own choice, he is 
left to those motions of his being, those impulses 
of his moral nature, which harmonize with the 
character of his own choice. He has indeed fallen. 
He was doubtless created for immortality; he will 
now be subject to death. He was free to choose, 
and, having chosen the evil, the possibility to sin 
has become an impossibility not to sin. Even the 
whole imagination of the thoughts of his heart has 
become only evil continually. His course of moral 
being now will flow on in separation from God. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter Pages. 

Introductoby, - - - - - - iii 

I. Statements From God's Word, 9 

II. Statements of Theologians, - -12 

in. God's Act, 19 

IV. Experience, 22 

V. The Need, 30 

VI. Provision Made, ----- 39 

VTI. Agencies Used, 44 

VIII. Born Again, 48 

IX. Evidences, 60 

X. Child Conversion, ----- 78 



vii 



REGENERATION. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Statements from God's Word. 

We are to consider that subjective change 
wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, which, in 
theological language, is called regeneration. We 
are to remember, at every step of the way, that we 
have before us as the subject of regeneration the > y 
individual man, possessing a depraved nature. 
He is not to be regarded as subject to the penalty 
of original sin. That was fully paid upon the 
cross by the perfect Man. Under the covenant o? 
grace his separation from God, springing from de- 
pravity transmitted without his knowledge or 
choice, is to be overcome by the pardon of sins com- 
mitted, and by recreation of the moral nature to 
purposes of obedience to God, and to choices of the 
good. 



Regeneration 

In the Holy Scriptures this change is variously 
designated. At the time of the first passover fol* 
lowing the baptism and temptation of Christ, while 
in conversation with Mcodemus, Jesus declared^ 
"Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God." The same thing is spoken of in 
Ezekiel 36 : 26, 27, when God, after declaring his 
purpose to cleanse his people, says, "A new heart 
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
within you; and I will take away the stony heart 
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of 
flesh." In Ephesians 4 : 22, 23, the apostle indi- 
rectly exhorts, "That ye put away, as concerning 
your former manner of life, the old man, which 
waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; an<J that 
ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put 
on the new man, which after God hath been created 
in righteousness and holiness of truth." And 
again it is said, II. Corinthians 5:17, "If any 
man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old 
things are passed away; behold, they are become 
new." 

In these passages regeneration is spoken of un- 
der the figures of being "born again," of being 
given "a new heart," of putting "away the old 

10 



Regeneration 

man/' and of being "a new creature," and in I. 
John 3 : 14 it is represented as a resurrection, for 
the apostle says, "We know that we have passed 
out of death into life." 

The reader will recall other passages. For the 
present purposes let these suffice; but let it be 
noticed that in their character they are highly 
figurative, and remembered that figurative lan- 
guage is often used to express the profoundest 
truths. 



11 



CHAPTEK II. 

Statements of Theologians. 

Theologians have had much to say in explana- 
tion of those passages of scripture given in the 
preceding chapter, and of others similar to them, 
as well as of their application to human expe- 
rience. Many theories have been deduced, directly 
or indirectly, from references made in God's Word 
to the change of attitude assumed by men when 
they really accept God as their sovereign Father, 
and Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. A 
few of these are given for purposes which will ap- 
pear. No attempt is made to classify them, or to 
arrange them to correspond with any order of 
scriptural passages. 

In an old Calvinistic confession occur these 
words : "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath 
wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good 
accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, be- 
ing altogether averse from that which is good, 

12 



Regeneration 

and dead in sin, he is not able, by his own strength, 
to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereto. 
When God converts a sinner, and translates him 
into the state of grace, he f reeth him from his 
natural bondage under sin, and by His grace 
alone enables him freely to will and to do that 
which is spiritually good/' This is somewhat at 
variance with the declaration in the Tridentine 
Canons, "If any one shall affirm that the free will 
of man, moved and excited by God, cooperates 
nothing by assenting to God thus exciting and 
calling, so that it disposes and prepares itself for 
obtaining the grace of justification, but like some 
inanimate object does nothing at all, but is merely 
passive, let him be accursed." [It should be no- 
ticed that the word "justification" in the above 
statement necessarily includes regeneration.] Prom 
the Belgic Confession, "We believe that our sal- 
vation consists in the remission of our sins for 
Jesus Christ's sake, and that therein our right- 
eousness before God is implied." From the Thirty- 
nine Articles, "We are accounted righteous before 
God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ by faith." From the Auburn Dec- 
laration, "Kegeneration is a radical change of 

13 



Regeneration 

heart, produced by the special operations of the 
Holy Spirit, determining the sinner to that which 
is good, and is in all cases instantaneous." From 
the confession of the Free-will Baptists, "This 
change is an instantaneous renewal of the heart 
by the Holy Spirit, whereby the penitent sinner 
receives new life, becomes a child of God, and is 
disposed to serve him." From the Eeformed 
Episcopal Articles, "Kegeneration is the creative 
act of the Holy Ghost, whereby he imparts to the 
soul a new spiritual life." Eichard Watson says : 
"Kegeneration is a concomitant of justification. 
. . . It is that mighty change in man, wrought 
by the Holy Spirit, by which the dominion that 
sin has over him in his natural state, is broken 
and abolished, so that, with full choice of will and 
the energy of right affections, he serves God freely, 
and runs in the way of his commandments." A 
broader and somewhat more purely philosophical 
conception is seen in the words of Edmond H. 
Sears when he says, "The way of our regeneration 
lies through bitter repentances and death-struggles 
for victory. The path ... is open and plain. 
It is simply self-denial, until there is no self to 
deny." The Delitzsch doctrine may be thus stated : 

14 



Regeneration 

"Utter ruin was the consequence of the fall. 
. . . The Son of God became man, not by as- 
suming our nature, in the ordinary sense of those 
words, but by ceasing to be almighty, omniscient, 
and omnipresent, and contracting himself to the 
limits of humanity. It was a human life into 
which he thus entered. ... It is this divine 
nature in the form of humanity, or this divine- 
human nature, which is purely and simply, 
though perfectly, human, which is communicated 
to the people of God in their regeneration." 

There is probably nothing gained in presenting 
other views, and yet, for the sake of the choice 
variety given, the definitions selected by the Eev. 
John Winebrenner as given in his "Treatise on 
Begeneration," page 98, are here repeated. 
Dwight, "A relish for spiritual objects." Brown, 
"God's implantation of holy principles in our 
hearts." Baxter, "Nature's reparation, elevation, 
and perfection." Helfenstein, "The restoration of 
God's image in the soul." Finney, "A voluntary 
change in the governing preference of the mind, 
or a change of choice." Campbell, "Eegeneration 
literally indicates the whole process of renovating 
or new-creating man." William Law, "Begenera- 

15 



Regeneration 

tion consists solely in the restoration of the birth 
of the Son of God in the human soul." E. D. 
Griffin, "Regeneration is a transition from su- 
preme selfishness to universal love, from enmity 
against God to supreme attachment to him." 
Dr. Gill, "Regeneration is the production of the 
new man, or a new principle which was not be- 
fore." George Duffield, "Regeneration is the com- 
mencement of spiritual life." Witherspoon, "Re- 
generation is the reparation of the loss which man 
sustained by the fall." 

And now, can we leave the theologians to 
possess the field, since they have so well covered it ? 
But take even a cursory glance at these state- 
ments. It is readily seen that they present many 
and varied theories of the doctrine, and that they 
suggest all shades of soteriology, from absolute 
human monergism to absolute divine monergism. 
It is, therefore, evident that whatever is meant by 
the Scriptures in such expressions as "born 
again," "new heart," "putting away the old man," 
"new creation," etc., interpreters differ widely, 
both as to what the thing itself is, and as to the 
manner in which it is brought about; and this, not 
only as to agencies employed, but also as to ef- 

16 



Regeneration 

fects produced in the consciousness of men. Either 
the scriptural language with reference to this mat- 
ter must be obscure, or men's philosophies color 
their understandings of scriptural truths, or there 
must be a profound mystery imbedded in the ex- 
pressions used by the inspired writers, or man has 
not yet attained to that ability to conceive spirit- 
ual things to which God intends he shall come in 
order clearly to apprehend his dealings with him. 
A shade of all these supposed difficulties may enter 
into the case. Doubtless the language is rabbinic, 
and preconceptions determine interpretations. But 
more : To himself man is a mystery, and yet the 
natural and moral worlds must be held together, 
in their respective operations, by an incessant ad- 
ministration. Shall we assume his clear percep- 
tion of the agencies and energies that fashion his 
being, or the seemingly miraculous combinations 
necessary to the generation of a spiritual life, so 
natural, so divine ? Has he become that being to 
whom God's revelation is the unsealed book ? Let 
the ages to come first build stepping-stones to 
heights not yet attained! Then why attempt to 
define regeneration ? And yet, man treads a path 
whose glory forbids his being silent. His soul's 

2 17 



Regeneration 

nativity is still the garden of God. Thoughts that 
wander from eternity refuse to be repressed, and 
faces unknown, and voices articulating not a 
word impel his inmost being, and he speaks. His 
words are meant to tell his dearest hope, — that 
evil flee, and goodness fill his soul with the rap- 
ture of an angel's smile ; it is regeneration. 



18 



CHAPTER III. 
God's Act. 

Regeneration is to be considered :?rom two 
standpoints: 1. Prom the Godward side. 2. From 
the manward side. Prom God's side, it is an act 
of his almighty power exercised upon the sinner's 
depraved nature, giving the spiritual ascendejicy 
over the carnal. From man's side, it is a thing 
received, an effect produced, a change wrought by 
an agency entirely outside of himself, and abso- 
lutely beyond himself or his direct control. 

No shadow of the efficient cause of the regenera- 
tion of the sinner can be found in himself. He 
lies in sin crying for help, but helpless. He makes 
himself ready for regeneration by knowledge, and 
faith, and repentance, and conversion; but justi- 
fication and regeneration are purely acts of God, 
and his alone, on account of the favor grounded 
in the gift of Jesus Christ, which is constantly 
operative within its own parallels. When the sin- 
ner puts himself within these parallels of God's 

19 



U~ 



Regeneration 

favor in Jesus Christ, instantly the act of God 
which makes him a new creature is performed by 
an omnipotence full of grace and mercy. The 
potency is not in the sinner's act, or in any com- 
bination of acts of which he is capable, "f or it is 
God which worketh in you both to will and to 
work." 

This act of God cannot be defined. "The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 
voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, 
and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born 
of the Spirit." There is, therefore, but little to 
say of the act of regeneration as performed by the 
Almighty, except as it affects us; for we can 
neither describe it nor determine it. We believe 
he forgives us our sins, and changes the fountain 
of our being, from which spring affections and 
acts, so that instead of bitterness there is sweet- 
ness, but to assume to determine the definite lim- 
its of these acts were indeed presumption. The 
entire plan of redemption as laid down by the Al- 
mighty is based upon truths which in their last 
analysis lie far beyond our comprehension. 

The Bible record is a revelation of God, and in 
it the plan of redemption is set forth, but we may 

20 



Regeneration 

with profit cease our controversies in relation to 
our interpretations of it, for we shall never un- 
derstand, and if we could., we should not be ma- 
terially advantaged. Better turn our attention to 
a definition of our own instincts and impulses, 
and the motions of our own being under the di- 
vine influence and agency, and to the development 
of a science of the soul with reference to spiritual 
things, as men have set forth a science of the 
mind with reference to things pertaining to the 
intellect. With the Father there "can be no varia- 
tion, neither shadow -that is cast by turning/' 
Concerning the certain and unchanging we need 
not question. That is positive and always avail- 
able in accord with its own laws. With man all is 
tentative and changing. How shall the fitful hu- 
man, subject to countless counter-influences, many 
of which are subconscious, define its relations and 
interpret them? The old adage, "Know thyself/' 
is still good philosophy. 



21 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Experience. 

Since the introduction of Pietism and Quiet- 
ism much has been made of what is commonly 
called "religious experience," and "experimental 
religion." The "experience" is especially to be 
realized in connection with the change wrought in 
regeneration. It "is a sensible assurance of God's 
favor in the believer's blessed consciousness/' and 
is supposed by many to accompany a bodily and 
spiritual penitential struggle, without which there 
can be no spiritual experience, and, therefore, no 
regeneration. "This experience is crudely con- 
ceived as a striking emotional event which must be 
of extraordinary character in order to meet ex- 
pectations." 

It is not here assumed that religious expe- 
rience, either at the time of conversion or at any 
subsequent time, is to be regarded as entitled to a 
less important consideration than it now receives, 
or has received in the past. But we may observe 

22 



Regeneration 

the fact that so much emphasis has been laid upon 
the emotional aspects of religion that serious mis- 
apprehensions of the truth have followed to the 
confusion of many a sincere inquirer, and to the 
disgust of many a thoughtful observer. The 
Christian religion is not an emotionless religion, 
but it is not primarily an emotion or an expe- 
rience. It is a great principle involving a great 
personality. The adoption of the principle is the 
choice of the personality. This personality is to 
be an absolute sovereign, to whom is to be given 
supreme service growing out of a supreme love. 
We are invited to make this choice, but are not 
called upon to suffer emotional upheavals, or to 
receive clearly defined witnesses of the Spirit, or 
to expect extravagant experiences. We are called 
upon to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ; to take 
up the cross and follow him ; to repent and be con- 
verted ; to love the Lord with all the heart ; to en- 
dure hardness, etc., and with every duty enjoined, 
or privilege expressed, there is an abundant prom- 
ise. But every requirement is to be met in faith, 
and experience nowhere is represented as preced- 
ing in any sense the solemn surrender of the will 
and life to God. 

23 



Regeneration 

To seek an experience, a subjective perturba- 
tion, either for the pleasure of its enjoyment or 
as a sign whereby we may know that God is pro- 
pitious, and then to regard such experience as may 
arise as the indispensable test of discipleship, is 
most unfortunate. The "feelings" have a complex 
root, and are so dependent upon physical condi- 
tions that they are utterly unsafe as criteria in 
these matters. That this is true is evidenced in 
the frequency with which the so-called converted 
backslide and give up their profession of Jesus 
Christ. Then, too, frequently it is a fact that the 
misguided soul primarily seeking the sign, the 
experience, fails to find it, and on this account 
falls into uncertainty and doubt and artifieialness, 
when the religious life, which God intended to be 
a peace that flows like a river, becomes the turmoil 
of a tempest. 

What is the difficulty? Undoubtedly this: Men 
forget that God is to be found, and not an expe- 
rience ; that they are no longer their own, but serv- 
ants of a Master whose service is joy. There is 
really nothing to seek except God, and finding him 
is far different from finding an experience. Hav- 
ing found him in regenerating grace, one will re- 

24 



Regeneration 

joice in God, and in irue godliness. He will say 
with the prophet: "I will greatly rejoice in the 
Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he 
hath clothed me . . . with the robe of 
righteousness." 

"I delight to do thy will, my God ; 
Yea, thy law is within my heart." 

His emphasis is upon his relationship to the 
Lord, and from correct relationship and service he 
draws his pleasure. There is no evidence of a 
barren chase after emotions, but of an overflowing 
delight in contemplation of a redeeming Jehovah. 

Eeligious emotions are good, and not to be de- 
spised; but they are not to be directly sought, or 
to be chased after for their own sake. "They are 
to come as the unforced attendants of our re- 
ligious faith and devotion and obedience. When 
thus, coming, they are wholesome, and helpful, 
and natural. In every other case they are unwhole- 
some, harmful, unnatural." The real peace and 
joy come naturally, in God's chosen order. They 
arise in the repentant, surrendered soul centered 
upon God in contemplation of his unmeasured 
grace, when it profoundly yields itself in loving 

25 



Regeneration 

submission and active obedience to the will of God, 
in accord with the provisions made in Christ Jesus, 
the Saviour. He who anxiously seeks happiness 
never finds it. 

It will be seen, then, that duty and privilege 
and service are to be emphasized in our own lives, 
and our emotional nature left to itself to bring us 
pleasure if it will, pain if it must. And yet, who 
does not prefer pleasure to pain ? and who is not 
frequently disquieted by the fears which arise in 
answer to his doubts ? Even after our conversion, 
or confirmation, and union with the church, in- 
quiries unanswerable do arise, to our dismay, dis- 
astrous, not only to our peace of mind, but to our 
endurance as well. Do not these figure in the re- 
ligious life? Ah, yes, too largely. But the serv- 
ant of God, with his eye upon the Captain of his 
salvation, must have too many conquests to make, 
and see too great incentives in the glories of his 
victories, to allow thoughts that wander from the 
nether regions to discomfit him. When God smiles 
upon him he rejoices; when clouds overshadow, 
either in persecution or in doubt, he rejoices that 
he is "counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the 
Name." God is to be seen, the filial spirit culti- 

26 



Regeneration 

vated, the soul surrendered in loving obedience, 
the King's business attended to with haste and 
fidelity, the forces of the soul marshaled against 
evil, the Spirit's voice distinguished as supremely 
authoritative, — blessed he who can consume him- 
self in these with never a thought of experience. 

But what can be done when fear and doubt per- 
sist in driving from the timid soul the peace and 
comfort it rightfully claims in the service of God ? 
There is a servile fear which is the product of 
doubt; and there is a virtuous fear, the effect of 
faith. Seek this by renewing faith, and renew 
faith by shrinking from sin. Fear not to find God 
in mountain and sea and sky, but most of all in 
the conscience and in the will. Fear to lose him; 
for such filial fear animates us to avoid what 
would be offensive to our Heavenly Father, and to 
consult his desires as to our choices and motives 
and acts, and to hold sweet converse with him as 
friend with friend. Eead his Word, and study it 
sufficiently to learn what is his plan for our lives, 
and his blessings for our experiences. Interpret 
closely the teachings from human lips, upon which 
you depend for comfort and instruction, and re- 
ceive them judiciously, distinguishing carefully 

2T 



Regeneration 

between theological language and the language of 
experience. It is easy to speak of being "born 
again," or of receiving "a new heart," of "loving 
God," or of "loving our enemies," in set phrases 
that mean but little to the speaker, and less to the 
hearer, and yet place an emphasis which, to the 
anxious learner, not accustomed to giving atten- 
tion to theological terms and to making allowance 
for the mode of their expressing things really to 
be experience, suggests utter hopelessness, because 
seemingly utter impossibility. Wait upon God, 
and when he speaks, obey, hearkening unto him 
rather than unto men, or self-convenience, or self- 
gratification, in pleasure if can be, in pain if must 
be ; and doubt will sleep, and fear will flee. 

But as you would avoid perdition itself, avoid 
cultivating a right feeling without right acting. 
Feeling is given to lead to action as well as to bear 
testimony to it, but when it awakes without pass- 
ing into duty it soon slumbers again and forgets 
to ask for duty. Our feelings are delicately cor- 
rect when unconstrained, but we shrink from the 
discharge of duty which they suggest, and their 
feeble flutterings stirred by sermon or providence 
subside to give empire to other feelings of less sen- 

28 



Regeneration 

sitive nature. The modest voice of conscience 
shrinks from the overmastering influence of self- 
complacency and self-gratification. 

And now, notwithstanding the uncertainties 
and abuses of experience, let it forever be remem- 
bered that God gives his faithful ones an expe- 
rience. "In that day ye shall know that I am in 
my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that 
hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it 
is that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be 
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will 
manifest myself unto him . . . and we will 
come unto him, and make our abode with him. 
. . . These things have I spoken unto you, 
that my joy be in you, and that your joy may be 
fulfilled." 



29 



CHAPTEK V. 
The Need. 

Whatever may be the philosophy of sin, the 
conscious experience of men bears testimony to the 
fact that some great fountain of evil lies deep in 
the human nature. Our "involuntary powers" 
seem constantly to be generating a brood of un- 
holy things to infest our inner world, so that when 
we become conscious of their presence they are al- 
ready taking the form of sin and wrong. 

On the one hand, a constant watchfulness is 
necessary to avert the injuries and wrongs with 
which we are threatened at the hands of others. 
And it is evident that these come not always ac- 
cidentally, but that they are frequently associated 
with acts purely intentional, though not neces- 
sarily primarily designed to inflict injury. The 
motive behind them is self-advantage. The in- 
jury in which they may result is a matter of in- 
difference. 

30 



Regeneration 

On the other hand, when the eye is accustomed 
to introspection, it is easy to discover in ourselves 
the same motives and impulses which, in others, 
threatened the wrongs and injuries averted only 
by our watchfulness. But here they seem not 
nearly so culpable, or so seriously objectionable. 
Some strange transformation has taken place, ancl 
the thing obnoxious and profoundly to be despised 
in others has become the friend in us, and our 
most valued support. 

The question naturally arises, What is this 
double-faced sphinx, now white, now black, now 
friend, now foe? It is clear that the claim of 
Tightness does not only demand that a pure motive 
shall inspire every act, but also that the act shall 
be so performed as to be followed by a result not 
harmful. It is equally clear that the mere acci- 
dent of location does not determine the character 
of a motive or an impulse. The thing that is wrong 
in my neighbor is wrong in me. What, then, 
makes it seem different ? The instinct of self-pres- 
ervation? But self-preservation is not self-ag- 
grandizement. The one is divinely implanted; 
the other is the outflowing virus of a self -centered, 
depraved nature. It matters not what name is 

31 



Regeneration 

given to the thing within the human breast which 
causes self-interest to overshadow and practically 
to blot out of our program the good of our neigh- 
bor, or of the community, it still lies at the bot- 
tom of every violation of justice and of right- 
eousness. 

And what shall we say of our acts in relation to 
God? What inspiration led to folly so consum- 
mate and presumption so damnable as to lead a 
human nature entirely uncorrupt and unper- 
verted, needing no revelation but the deep and 
clear intuitions of the mind itself, to assent to the 
falsehood of a proposition carrying with it the 
disobedience which should send down through the 
generations so broad a stream of distress and 
death? "When the woman saw that the tree was 
good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, 
and that the tree was to be desired to make one 
wise," self-gratification weighed in the balances 
against the expressed will of the Creator, and ever 
since it has appealed to men with greater force 
than his often expressed desire that they "should 
live soberly and righteously and godly in this pres- 
ent world." The Golden Eule would be easily ob- 
served were it not that selfness holds down the 

32 



Regeneration 

truth in unrighteousness. From the first, man 
was in unity with God, and made in his likeness, 
intended to be self -impelled and self -controlled in 
righteousness, but by the insistence of selfness, 
and a choice of self -gratification, the head of the 
race placed himself in antithesis with God and 
so opened a place for distrust and disobedience, 
and not only sinned, but became sinful. From 
that time until this, every generation has come 
down a line of tainted ancestry, and, by the irrev- 
ocable law of descent, evil has had opportunity to 
gather strength and volume on the way. The re- 
sult is that the affections are frozen; the intellect 
is blinded ; the will is in bondage. 

From this wreck of lofty powers and holy apti- 
tudes has descended a stream of pollution and sin, 
wide as the human race, and whose miasmata have 
vitiated all life, so that gloomy superstitions and 
varied idolatries in all stages of civilization per- 
meate society and attack the citadel of every soul. 
Nations and tribes, as well as individuals, are sep- 
arated by a mighty selfishness that has instigated 
wars and feuds, slain justice, and dried up the 
fountains of brotherhood. Even Christian na- 
tions and Christian society cherish their favorite 

3 33 



Regeneration 

f alsehoods, and there is more truth than poetry in 
the couplet : 

"Truth forever on the scaffold, 
Wrong forever on the throne." 

Nor is this condition of affairs the result of bad 
example and evil influence. There is that back 
of influence and example, which, on the one hand, 
is the fountain from which influence and example 
are the outflow, and, on the other, the ocean into 
which they empty. The internal forces of human 
nature include elements which are evil, and only 
evil. Always in conflict with every holy impulse 
of the soul, they are the mind of the flesh, which 
is enmity toward God ; for to the law of God it is 
not subject ; neither can it be ; and they that are in 
the flesh cannot please God. Selfishness in its 
many-sided forms, malice, revenge, hatred, 
cruelty, deceit, and a thousand forms of acquired 
self-gratification devour every holy instinct. 
These are that "body of death" from which Paul 
desired release, and from which every soul must 
be delivered as the pilgrim was of his burden when 
he came to the cross. These, and others like them, 
are they which degrade the natural appetites, af- 
fections, and powers, in themselves good when 

34 



Regeneration 

serving the higher nature, into degeneracy and 
sensuality. Here is unbelief, the native-born of 
hell, changing the hope of the immortal spirit into 
the darkness of despair; and here rebellion and 
blasphemy and disobedience in myriad forms, 
growing disaster and shame and death in the na- 
tive soil of the human heart. How far distant the 
realization of the prophet's dream, when he said, 
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain : for the earth shall be full of the knowl- 
edge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 

Divine revelation in its entire scope assumes the 
truth so tersely put by Jesus in his conversation 
"with Mcodemus, "Ye must be born again." The 
fabric of human life is made from the warp of 
disobedience and the woof of sinful acts and mo- 
tives, and the sacred record is that it is a "sinful 
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil- 
doers, children that deal corruptly : they have for- 
saken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One 
of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward. 
. . . The whole head is sick, and the whole 
heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto 
the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, 
and bruises, and festering sores; they have not 

35 



Regeneration 

been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified 
with oil." 

The situation is most deplorable. Society is 
corrupt and needs renovation. Every individual 
is a sinner against God. "For all have sinned, and 
fall short of the glory of God." We cannot restore 
ourselves. "We are all become as one that is un- 
clean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted 
garment." God cannot set his approbation upon 
beings wanting "holiness without which no man 
shall see the Lord." The kingdom of heaven is 
closed against us unless we have the filial spirit. 
"Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye 
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
The heart sees not, and cares not, and God at last 
gives us up to our own destruction. "And even as 
they refused to have God in their knowledge, God 
gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those 
things which are not fitting; being filled with all 
unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, mali- 
ciousness ; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, ma- 
lignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, 
insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil 
things, disobedient to parents, without under- 
standing, covenant-breakers, without natural 

36 



Regeneration 

affection, unmerciful : who, knowing the ordinance 
of God, that they which practice such things are 
worthy of death, not only do the same, but also 
consent with them that practice them." 

Moreover, the visitations of divine wrath in 
deluge, bondage, and pestilence ; the invitations of 
divine mercy in law and precept and prophetic 
warning; the expression of divine compassion in 
promise and vision and song ; the outgoings of the 
human heart itself in prayers and lamentations 
and the offerings of sacrifices, all combine in em- 
phasizing the sad story of man's sin and separa- 
tion from God, and his most urgent need of a crea- 
tion within himself which will in some degree 
restore to him the communion and fellowship with 
God, by some means lost. 

But the most profound expression of man's need 
of a new life is Jesus Christ himself. In his char- 
acter he sets forth what man was intended to be. 
The perfect manhood exemplified in him must for- 
ever, on the one hand, exhibit God's ideal, and on 
the other, man's infinite deviation from rectitude. 
The price he paid for man's restoration measures 
not only the value of the human soul, but, also, 
the spirit of brotherhood and helpfulness found in 

37 



Regeneration 

the perfect man himself, to which every human 
being needs to be born again. No such gift, as is 
He, could be offered by infinite Wisdom unless a 
commensurate need existed. And to become a new 
creature in Christ Jesus, to be born again, to be 
released from sin, and the power of sin, how pro- 
foundly to be desired ! 



3* 



CHAPTER VI. 

Provision Made. 

Every provision made for redemption is based 
upon the primary provision of the atonement. 
The penalty attached to the violation of God's 
law contemplated certain wise ends. The atone- 
ment is what was substituted in the place of the 
penalty to answer the same ends as would have 
been attained in relation to justice by its infliction 
upon the transgressor. It is grounded in the love 
of God, and admits the showing of mercy to the 
condemned criminal without infringement upon 
the demands of justice. It was made by the Eter- 
nally Begotten of the Father's love, who, from the 
beginning, had the divine nature, but did not look 
upon equality with God as something to cling to, 
but made himself poor by taking the nature of a 
servant and being like other men. Then as a man 
he came among us and humbled himself by sub- 
mitting to death, even the death of the cross. "In 

39 



Regeneration 

whom we have our redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the 
riches of his grace, which he made to abound 
toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having 
made known unto us the mystery of his will, ac- 
cording to his good pleasure which he purposed in 
him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the 
times, to sum up all things in Christ." 

The disobedience which destroyed in man both 
the likeness and favor of God made him not only 
a transgressor of law, but also a despiser of the 
Lawgiver. We hate those whom we injure. Jus- 
tice would have allowed him so to remain. God 
was under no obligation to redeem him. Mercy 
would lift him out of his guilty, ruined, helpless 
state, and make him a friend again. Love bore 
the burden of the wonderful plan of redemption, 
which proposes not only to forgive actual trans- 
gressions, but also to renovate the whole nature, 
upon conditions absolutely in accord with justice, 
and honorable to the Sovereign as well as to the 
subject. 

Why there is no remission without shedding of 
blood does not enter here, but that it is a pro- 
foundly significant and blessed fact that the Heav- 

40 



Regeneration 

enly Father did give his Son as an expression of 
his love, and that this Son of God, and son of 
Mary, by his life and suffering, his resurrection 
and ascension, has made every provision necessary 
for man's return to his Father's house, must never 
be forgotten, or lost sight of, in the philosophies 
of life. And if the mere mercy of God, without 
vicarious sacrifice, or repentance for sin, or a vis- 
itation of punishment, or the suffering endured 
in this world, is a sufficient ground of hope, the 
sinful heart has not yet learned to believe it. And 
if the sins of the past can be blotted out by future 
good conduct, and if moral evils can be overcome 
by a process of restoration or recuperation, it has 
not yet appeared that the soul stirred by the in- 
stincts of its divine nativity can restfully repose 
upon such propositions. The faith that justifies is 
based upon the eternal truth that God hath "at the 
end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, 
. . . who, . . . when he had made puri- 
fication of sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high." "And in none other is there 
salvation : for neither is there any other name un- 
der heaven, that is given among men, wherein we 
must be saved." "Wherefore, holy brethren, par- 

41 



Regeneration 

takers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle 
and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus." 
Then let us not believe that God was made pro- 
pitious or moved to mercy by the atonement, but 
that in wisdom his benevolence and disposition to 
show mercy led him to give his Son as the expres- 
sion of love. 

This atonement made in the offering of Jesus 
Christ distils into man's native domain an all- 
pervasive energy redolent with the fragrance of 
Heaven's love. Of himself man seeks not God; 
God seeks him. And so in the deeper fountains 
of his life he is subject to under-currents which 
seem to originate in the eternal mysteries of God. 
And when he yields himself to these strange 
forces, to loose his being from the thraldom of 
sense, the messengers of the unseen, with velvet 
touch, persuade his soul into a unison with the 
eternal verities of God. He is now in half -con- 
scious communion with troops of glorified beings 
whose conquering spirits possess his heart. The 
spirit-world is not far away. He feels its breath- 
ings upon his soul, and his mind runs through un- 
accustomed channels. The fountains of his being 
are troubled by an unseen agency. He lies in a 

42 



Regeneration 

porch of Bethesda. God has mercifully made it 
so that in every one's life there come times when 
the loneliness of midnight seems to brood over 
him and the world's jangling voices are stilled, 
and he awakes in some degree to a recognition of 
realities of which he has been ordinarily uncon- 
scious. But what mean these thoughts that wan- 
der from eternity? Only this, that deeply im- 
bedded in the mortal is the immortal, and now 
and then the mystic life of the spirit asserts itself 
over the sense-life. It is God calling loudly, 
homeward. The involuntary powers of our souls 
arrested, with an overmastering energy He faces 
us toward eternity and toward heaven. It is the 
Holy Spirit taking of the things of God and mani- 
festing them to us — to us — to our subconscious 
selves; and brooding over us, thoughts of eternal 
relations recur with growing urgency. 

And so the King's highway is made to lead 
"from the lowly earth to the vaulted skies," and 
pilgrims journey thither impelled by grace divine, 
and yet what nobler exercise of godlike function 
than to choose Him whose love is life ! 



43 



CHAPTER VII. 

Agencies Used. 

The agencies engaged in effecting regeneration 
have already been referred to in various connec- 
tions. The intent in this place is to name them in 
direct relationship to the renewal of the soul. 
They are to be regarded as employed of God in 
procuring man's assent, and as directly efficient 
in producing the moral renovation of the soul, as 
well as used by man in bringing himself to meet 
God upon the conditions of the gospel. 

1. The Word of Truth. This, in the objective 
form of revelation, is found in the Bible. It is 
evidently intended by its Author to be the inspir- 
ited instrument by which man shall definitely 
learn the essential truths of his salvation, to be 
inwrought during an earthly pilgrimage. 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, 
And light unto my path." 

It warns us in the story of man's sin, and en- 
heartens us with its message of redemption. It 

44 



Regeneration 

shows sin twining itself about the heart and en- 
grafting itself upon life, poisoning the affectional 
nature and binding the will, until our own free 
action lies subject to the slavery of hell. It shows 
our passions that sweep us impetuously and relent- 
lessly forward to the limit of life, and into the 
gloom of death; but it lifts the pall of death 
and shows the stream of life, making glad the 
city of God. Its record of sin is dark and dread- 
ful, but its promise of life is the golden chain of 
infinite love stretching from Eden, by Haran and 
Bethel and Sinai and Moriah and Calvary, into 
the city not made with hands. James declares, 
"Of his own will begat he us with the word of 
truth." And the psalmist says, "The law of the 
Lord is perfect, converting the soul." The great 
apostle boasts, "I am not ashamed of the gospel: 
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth." 

This "word of truth" God has graciously pro- 
vided for the reinforcement of the religious in- 
stincts with which he has endowed the soul, and to 
be the basis of all religious instruction. And he 
is using it more widely than ever before. It is 
now at the command of every one in Christian 

45 



Regeneration 

lands, and within the reach of multitudes in 
heathen lands. He directs its proclamation in 
thousands of pulpits and its teaching to millions 
of Sunday-school scholars. He has instilled its 
precepts into the literature and jurisprudence of 
all civilized nations. And he declares, "It shall 
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish 
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
thing whereto I sent it." It is the source of our 
information and the instrument of our quicken- 
ing. 

2. The Holy Spirit. He takes the truth and 
interprets it and applies it. The word of revela- 
tion becomes efficient as God's Word when the 
Holy Spirit energizes it, and he does so only for 
the soul surrendered to his will. "If any man 
willeth to do his will he shall know of the teach- 
ing, whether it be of God." "No man can say, 
Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Ghost." From the 
very earliest he hovers over the soul and warms 
into life every seed-truth. By his agency the heart 
is prepared for every exercise by which it is 
opened to the reception of Jesus Christ, and the 
embrace of the truth. "And he, when he is come, 
will convict the world in respect of sin, and of 

46 



Regeneration 

righteousness, and of judgement. . . . How- 
beit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall 
guide you into all the truth: . . . and he 
shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 
He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, 
and shall declare it unto you." In the accom- 
plishment of the full preparation by the Holy 
Spirit, the mind informed, the heart inclined, the 
conscience convicted, the faith enriched, the choice 
made, the will surrendered, the act of forgiveness 
and renewal is involved and consummated. "The 
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it com- 
eth, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is 
born of the Spirit." 



47 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Born Again. 

The manward side of regeneration is conver- 
sion. It may be designated as the objective ex- 
pression of that change of the moral nature which 
is wrought by the Almighty in regeneration, or 
that radical change in man's purpose which is log- 
ically distinct from repentance and faith, but 
which accompanies them. In conversion man is 
the agent. He sees his mistaken position as to 
Christ and the church, turns square about, and 
commences a new life. Faith and repentance and 
conversion and justification and regeneration are 
all logically distinct, but they all enter into the 
cooperative process by which the new birth comes 
about. No one of them is in entirety ever present 
without the rest of them. Justification may not 
take place without regeneration, or conversion 
without justification, or choice of God without 
faith and repentance and conversion. "For whom 

48 



Regeneration 

he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed 
to the image of his Son, that he might be the first- 
born among many brethren: and whom he fore- 
ordained, them he also called : and whom he called, 
them he also justified: and whom he justified, 
them he also glorified." 

As to the conscious recognition of the process 
by which one becomes a child of God, it may be 
said that possibly no two persons are affected 
alike. It would probably be safe to assume that 
regeneration itself is similar in all cases, but it is 
doubtless true that effects which are wrought upon 
the subconscious self in one case, in another stand 
out with remarkable boldness and definiteness of 
outline. Not infrequently that part of the process 
which we had hoped to realize in conscious ex- 
perience most definitely, has been wrought without 
a hint to our consciousness of its occurrence. It 
occurred, but it escaped our observation. Possibly 
we had thought great sorrow for sin, or a great 
hatred of sin, or a profound self -abhorrence would 
be felt; but when we were most completely con- 
vinced that such ought to be the case, and were 
most desirous that it should be so, we had no such 
experience. Or we had been taught that there is 

4 49 



Regeneration 

a great difference between historical faith and 
evangelical or saving faith; but in our conscious- 
ness we were never able to distinguish one from 
the other, if there really are two kinds of faith. 
Or we had thought some marked change would be 
recognized in regard to the things we loved or 
hated; but in our real experience we could not 
discover that we loved God more or hated sin more 
than before our so-called conversion. Or we had 
hoped to experience some marked subjective 
change whereby the soul would be filled unutter- 
ably with joy; but we were not so filled. Any one 
of these disappointments, or all of them, may have 
been experienced in conversion, and it might have 
been a thorough one, carrying with it justification 
and regeneration. Conditioned upon a person's 
choosing God and his giving himself to that choice 
with no reservation of will, the grace of God works 
in him both to will and to work. The work of 
grace may be like the wind that bloweth where it 
listeth, but nevertheless the wind blows, and the 
work of grace goes on. 

The artificial distinction made between histor- 
ical and evangelical faith is very convenient for 
the theological treatment of faith from a doctrinal 

50 



Regeneration 

standpoint, but so far as its manifestation in the 
experience or to the consciousness of the penitent 
is concerned, it amounts to absolutely nothing, 
except that it often confuses the mind of the peni- 
tent. In experience, faith is faith. It includes 
a trustful assumption of the truth by the mind, 
and a trustful surrender to the truth by the will- 
It may be more of one than of the other, but 
never, for any length of time, all of one and none 
of the other. There is a truth and a beauty in the 
expression, "Believing is receiving." But choos- 
ing Jesus Christ is receiving him, and surrender- 
ing to Jesus Christ is receiving him. He stands 
in direct contrast with that which is designated 
the world, and choosing him or surrendering to 
him puts one in alienation from the world. "No 
man can serve two masters ; for either he will hate 
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold 
to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve 
God and mammon/' If, then, in our conversion, 
our attention should be placed upon our choosing 
Christ as our Saviour, and faith in its operation be 
unobserved, let us allow no fears lest God should 
not justify, for justification, which always in- 
cludes regeneration, accompanies choice, and 

51 



Regeneration 

choice is based upon faith, and without saving 
faith no true choice of Jesus Christ is ever made. 

Our self-abhorrence on account of our sinful 
nature will probably be stronger when our experi- 
ence in attempting to ward off the approaches of 
sin is more mature. That is theological language, 
often used for rhetorical effect, which describes the 
soul newly born into the kingdom of heaven as 
just convulsed with hatred of sin of every type and 
in every form. The same kind of language is 
used for the same purpose in describing this same 
soul as utterly consumed with a fervid love for 
the Saviour. It is a newly-born soul, a babe in 
Christ. Eo such hatred for sin is usually experi- 
enced, no such love for Christ or his church or 
his people, and unless one is capable of changing 
theological and rhetorical language into the lan- 
guage of experience, there is only one of two con- 
clusions possible: either the description of the 
change in conversion is false, or there is some rad- 
ical deficiency in our experience. 

The situation is quite different from that de- 
scribed by thoughtless ministers and enthusiastic 
laymen. If the babe in Christ has such a tre- 
mendous hatred for sin, how does it come that 

52 



Regeneration 

after he has grown up to the full stature of a man 
in Christ Jesus he has so precious little of it ? If 
one-fourth of the people who were genuinely con- 
verted twenty years ago really had in their hearts 
the hatred for sin which many of them demand 
that the present-day penitent shall experience im- 
mediately upon his conversion, the millennium 
would dawn at once. And if, on the other hand, 
their own hearts were really aglow with that fervid 
flame of love which they so glibly attribute in fig- 
urative language to the experience of the newly 
converted, and to their own, the world would have 
been evangelized long ago, or at least there would 
have been a better effort made. But they have no 
such hatred, no such love, and never had. They 
have had a glorious sense of God's presence in a 
keenly experienced sense of joy; they have felt 
the quickening thrill of his Spirit, and the hard 
lines of hatred and love dissolving; but that ab- 
rupt, radical, and unqualified exchange of the 
things they loved and hated, never. The word 
"love" has been used in the ordinary sense usually 
given it. 

The truth is evident. Eegeneration does regen- 
erate the whole man. Our faculties cannot be so 

53 



Regeneration 

dissociated as to allow one to be renewed and an- 
other not. The mind is to be illuminated, the 
eyes of the understanding opened, the heart re- 
newed, the will conquered, and the man mado 
willing. Every power and faculty is to become 
changed in "putting on the new man," but this is 
a process following conversion and its concomi- 
tants. It may very legitimately be called a regen- 
eration, but it is the regeneration which is the 
completion of the "growth in grace" to which the 
holy Word exhorts God's children. But that re- 
generation which is the beginning of the Christian 
life, and which we have in the main under consid- 
eration, finds its chief ground for operation in the 
human will. The will being renewed, which is 
the commander of the citadel, the final arbiter 
among all the so-called faculties of the soul, so 
directs the powers over which it presides as finally 
to bring them to a permanent victory over the 
enemy, because into instinctive accord with Jesus 
Christ. The conflict to be waged by every Chris- 
tian goes on between his sense of right and his 
choice of right, on the one hand, and the re- 
bellious, unsubdued affectional nature on the 
other. He has given his will to the performance 

54 



Regeneration 

of duty ; he has recognized the claims of o-u-g-h-t 
upon his moral nature, and he is calling into line 
every faculty refusing to perform duty, and com- 
pelling its cooperation with his purpose. This is 
the field over which the Christian's warfare rages. 
He is a soldier for Jesus Christ, but the battle- 
ground lies in himself, and the conflict goes on 
between his own evil desires and propensities, on 
the one side, and his new will to do right, on the 
other, notwithstanding the fact that his whole be- 
ing is said to have been regenerated, and the other 
fact, that upon this field of combat are often mar- 
shaled the forces of light and of darkness employ- 
ing the native forces of the soul in the dreadful 
conflict. 

Moreover, the temptations of which we speak 
as threatening our fidelity to Jesus Christ, and 
our constancy in the religious faith, are the reg- 
ister of our spiritual renovation, as pertaining to 
the sensibilities. But who would venture to say> 
that no one who suffers temptation is really re- 
generated? And how could one experience temp- 
tation if the sensibilities had been so completely 
renovated as to leave no vestige of love for things 
sinful, through which an appeal might be made? 

55 



Regeneration 

If the whole nature had been completely turned 
to God in regeneration, so as to produce an abso- 
lute hatred for things sinful, and an absolute love 
for things godly, no place would be found for 
temptation. The very facts of temptation and of 
Christian warfare declare in most positive lan- 
guage that roots of bitterness do remain, and that 
regeneration does not necessarily and immediately 
produce a complete change of the affections so that 
the heart loves only the godly and hates only the 
evil. 

They also declare in the same way that the 
"spirit of the mind" and the "will" have under- 
gone a more nearly complete and radical change 
than anything else about us. Our ability to know 
has not been changed. A dullard converted is still 
a dullard, and just as much of a dullard as bef ore, 
with the single exception that he has become wise 
enough to give himself to the service of God. 

But we are changed creatures when God's re- 
generating grace has diffused itself into our being. 
The spirit of the mind has been renewed, not the 
mind; and the will has become sanctified in the 
holy choice of God, not godly things; and these, 
by the cooperating grace of God's Spirit, and the 

56 



Regeneration 

use of the instrumentalities appointed for exer- 
cise and growth, are to exhibit in the life the fruit- 
age which naturally follows sowing at seed-time, 
and cultivation thereafter until the maturing of 
the full ear, according to the will of God. The 
holy Word says, "Son, give me thine heart," and, 
"A new heart also will I give you." The "heart" 
as used in God's Word is the very core of the be- 
ing. It is the fountain from which the affections 
flow, but it is also the point at which the intellect 
takes its stand of observation, and the will exer- 
cises its dominion in response to the needs of its 
subjects. "A new heart," a new purpose, a new 
choice, a new determination, self -impelling, and 
self -controlling power, facing toward God, which 
will make dead your affections for the world, and 
call into existence and manifestation a genuine 
love for him, "also will I give you," and instead 
of the vacillating, drifting character, facing away 
from God, that you were, you will be a new man 
turned directly to an opposite course of conduct, 
"and a new spirit will I put within you." 

But regeneration also implants true love in the 
soul. In what seems contrary to this statement, 
the word "love" has been used in the ordinarily 

57 



Regeneration 

accepted sense. Here it is used in the true scrip- 
tural sense, in which love is quite a different thing 
from affection, as naturally existing between par- 
ent and child, brother and sister, husband and 
wife. If love were this kind of affection, the com- 
mand to love our enemies were a command to do 
an impossible thing, except in theory. The third 
time Jesus was manifested to the disciples after 
he was risen, he said to Peter, "Simon, son of 
John, lovest thou me more than these?" Peter 
evaded the question by answering, "Yea, Lord; 
thou knowest that I have affection for thee." 
After his vacillating course of conduct at the be- 
trayal, trial, and crucifixion of his Lord, Peter 
could not say that he properly appreciated the re- 
lations which really existed between him and 
Jesus, and that he gave himself fully and affec- 
tionately to the recognition of those relations, and 
to the determination of his course of conduct in 
accord with them. But this was Jesus' inquiry 
when he asked, "Lovest thou me?" And this is 
the new love that springs up in the heart, in the 
very core of our being, in regeneration. This is 
the love we are enjoined to bear to our enemies. 
It is the mark of the "new creation in Christ 

58 



Regeneration 

Jesus," and is also the love we are commanded to 
exercise toward God. It is a deep-seated principle 
of righteousness, influencing and controlling every 
act and motive, and is not an emotion or an affec- 
tion. It finds its chief seat in our volitional be- 
ing, and not in our affectional nature. Operating 
in accord with our sense of Tightness, it is a 
higher, holier thing than mere affection. It does 
not exclude affection, for it is all-embracing, in- 
cluding every faculty or power of the soul, and its 
every possible operation, to restrain or incite unto 
a recognition of God's claims. 

The marked subjective change we had hoped to 
experience in conversion, but did not, is neverthe- 
less an actual verity; yet we were not directly 
conscious of regeneration. The fountains of our 
being lie far beneath our observation. They must 
have been changed, for "Doth the fountain send 
forth from the same opening sweet water and bit- 
ter? can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or ,? 
vine figs? neither can salt water yield sweet * 
The regenerated man is — that is all. What he is, 
is different from what he was. It is the being that 
has essentially been changed, and in its ultimate 
being is indefinable. 

59 



CHAPTER IX. 

Evidences. 

The chief evidences of conversion are: (1) A 
genuine and deep-seated choice of God. (2) An 
absolute and solemn surrender of the will and life 
to God. (3) A constant and invincible deter- 
mination to overcome sin in one's self. (4) The 
filial spirit. (5) Love (not affection) to all men 
and to God. (6) The fruits of the Spirit. 

In these are involved all those holy exercises of 
the soul represented in faith and repentance and 
prayer and confession and obedience. In connec- 
tion with them are exercised forgiveness and 
cleansing. And withal there is strength for serv- 
ice which, if utilized, is followed by victory and 
joy and eternal reward. 

A deep-seated choice of God in Jesus Christ de- 
termines one immediately for godliness as against 
worldliness. It is a choice between God-sover- 
eignty in the moral nature and self -sovereignty ; a 

60 



Regeneration 

preference expressed for the spirit of grace, rather 
than for the world-spirit. For this choice on the 
part of every man God ever waits. Upon its being 
made he bestows his special grace in pardon and 
renewal, so that when the choice is made on man's 
side, the blessing follows with certainty on the di- 
vine side. 

The grace which precedes this choice, and the 
special grace of forgiveness and renewal invariably 
associated with it, are universal. The invitation 
to accept Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour comes 
to every man. The spirit of the atonement per- 
vades the universe. The invitation may come like 
the far-off echoes of our own heart-stirrings, or 
under a conjunction of circumstances appealing 
so powerfully to the sense of obligation to God as 
to stir the soul to its utmost depth. In any case, 
the choice of the subject is the demand of his 
Sovereign. 

The Man of Nazareth came to his own, and his 
own received him not. He stands contemplating 
the holy city. It is symbolic of a kingdom and 
a sovereignty involving the moral universe. He 
stretches out his hands — in blessing? No, it is 
the gesture of address, — and hear his words, "0 

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Regeneration 

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, 
and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how 
often would I have gathered thy children together, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
wings, and ye would not." He willing; they un- 
willing. Or was it the wail of an overwrought 
nervous system, chiding a not too appreciative 
public ? "Would not"; that is the key to the sit- 
uation — the wickedness of an unregenerate will 
expressing itself in an unholy choice ; selfish, stub- 
born, and ungodly in its application of knowledge, 
and in its determination of the affectional nature. 
When invitations of heavenly love, and over- 
tures of divine compassion, and warnings of eter- 
nal wrath appeal in vain to a conscience already 
under self-condemnation, but incapable of inspir- 
ing the choice upon which depends the freedom 
born of truth, because hardened by the deceitful- 
ness of sin, the strongest possible evidence is pre- 
sented that no regeneration has taken place. On 
the other hand, when a man, acting upon his 
knowledge of the deceitfulness of sin, and his sense 
of obligation to God, stirred, it may be, or it may 
not be, by perturbations of soul on account of the 
impending wrath of Jehovah, chooses God with 

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Regeneration 

a preference that dominates his whole being, this 
choice is conversion, and carries with it faith and 
repentance on his part, and justification and re- 
generation on God's part. "Him that cometh to 
me I will in no wise cast out." Such a choice, in- 
volving the application of its own law/ is the saf- 
est possible evidence to one's own consciousness 
that he is regenerated, though not a testimony to 
others until it gives expression to itself in its own 
natural fruit. This is "putting off the old man," 
and the "new man" put in his place, under this 
choice and in accord with its law, with uncovered 
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the 
Lord, is being metamorphosed from glory to glory, 
even as from the Lord the Spirit. "He that will, 
let him take the water of life freely." 

Following the choice of God, another evidence 
of regeneration is found in an absolute and solemn 
surrender of the will and life to God. Having 
made such a choice, logically the will of the Sov- 
ereign takes the place of the will of the subject. 
But in every-day, honest experience, this is ac- 
complished by no single volition, or consecration, 
or act of faith. We are Christians, yet are always 
becoming Christians. But let it forever be held in 

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Regeneration 

most confident assurance, that while the Christian 
must grow in grace, and constantly be in process 
of becoming a Christian, his Christian character 
has its beginning in a new creation by the Holy 
Spirit. Before this new creation was effected his 
will was self -centered ; afterward, it is God-cen- 
tered. Then there was no recognized standard to 
restrain the decrees of a capricious will; now 
God's will is the final gauge for every act, and is 
recognized and accepted as never before. Before 
conversion the person did not object to doing 
God's will if convenient; but afterward he directs 
himself to do His will, and His will only, at any 
sacrifice of self, time, or convenience, and puts 
upon himself the self-imposed task of guarding 
every feeling and impulse of his being, refusing 
them control, as formerly, in his life and in his 
acts. Such a surrender to a standard of morals, 
imposed by an authority beyond one's self, to- 
gether with the deliberate choice of it as the only 
rule insuring safety and felicity, in both time and 
eternity, is the highest expression of faith, and is 
to be regarded as bearing testimony to the fulfill- 
ment of conditions upon which the regenerating 
grace of God is bestowed upon men. 

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Regeneration 

The constant and invincible determination to 
overcome sin in our own hearts and lives in ac- 
cord with God's purpose, and by his help, also 
evidences the new heart. The natural man loves 
sin. He may oppose it in others, or hate some 
forms of sin which are in contrast with those espe- 
cially adapted to his own personal tastes or habits, 
but he does not hate sin because it is sin, nor does 
he oppose all sin in himself, nor does he seek to 
be rid of every sin. Such opposition to sin is of 
heavenly birth, and the Spirit-born man despises 
sin. He opposes it in others, but not nearly so 
much as in himself. He deplores the insincerity 
beneath the gilded surface of society, and stands 
abhorrent when the deeply-hidden lakes of in- 
iquity once in a while are uncovered, but with 
double care, lest in himself like sin abide, he 
scrutinizes and calls into account every personal 
act and impulse and motive, with a severity he 
would not think for a moment to use in dealing 
with others. He sees himself a sinner, but a re- 
deemed sinner, to be made perfect in Christ. And 
from this state of mind, conviction as to duty, 
and an appreciation of privileges, are not far re- 
moved. 

5 65 



Regeneration 

The filial spirit recognizes God as a Father, 
who, in love and wisdom, places upon his children 
the restraint of his moral laws and their concur- 
ring penalties, and bestows unmeasured blessings 
upon them in his arrangements for their life ever- 
lasting. It does more than merely recognize the 
fatherhood of God; it discovers the Father. 
Deeply imbedded in the soul, it is that teachable 
spirit which so charmingly becomes the child, and 
so distinctively appreciates the Father's love as 
being bestowed in infinite wisdom, supreme intel- 
ligence, and unselfish devotion to righteous moral 
government. It lives in the atmosphere of con- 
fession and obedience and reconciliation, and at- 
tests the restoration and companionship which 
open all the treasures and powers of sonship. It 
affords perfect harmony and oneness with God, 
that concord of spirit essential to communion and 
communication. 

To have this filial spirit in relation to God is to 
have the spirit of the child of God, which guaran- 
tees that constant obedience never rendered by one 
in the unrenewed state, and concerning the spirit 
of which God declares, "Behold, to obey is better 
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 

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Regeneration 

rams." It allows no conscious disobedience, that 
most subtle encroachment upon the spiritual well- 
being. For disobedience is the immediate cause of 
all alienation from God. It has been disastrous 
to the race from Eden until now. Nor does only 
a violent rejection of God's commands fill the 
heart with the spirit of estrangement. As the 
least sin is damnable, so the smallest transgression 
in which one may indulge blunts the conscience 
and chills the heart and contributes to indecision 
of will and vacillation of purpose. For often in 
one little sin are many great ones; and many a 
man who counts himself a Christian exposes him- 
self to greater dangers by daily committing small 
pieces of questionable business transactions than 
are those threatening him from all other direc- 
tions. "The worst sin is not some outburst of 
gross transgression, forming an exception to the 
ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as such 
a sin is ; but the worst and most fatal are the small 
continuous vices which root underground and 
honeycomb the soul." The solemn denunciation 
of God is, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not the 
words of this law to do them." 
But the filial spirit of obedience is the spirit 

67 



Regeneration 

of the child that loves; and love is brought into 
existence by the quickening action of the Holy 
Spirit. It is the bond of communion, and he in 
communion with God "cannot sin because he is 
begotten of God." It denies the small vice as well 
as the great crime, and preserves a tender recogni- 
tion of every divine claim. It is the most beau- 
tiful mark of the precious relationship between the 
Father and the saved soul. "For as many as are 
led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." 
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, 
Father." 

The ability to love all men, even our enemies, 
attests a condition of heart not found in the nat- 
ural man. As an evidence, this is more trust- 
worthy than is a sentimental feeling of love to 
God. It is easy to wheedle one's self into the no- 
tion that he loves God. He seems far away. Sin 
is very deceitful. But our fellows ! They are in 
our conscious presence, and speak back to us. We 
are not so readily led to believe that we love them 
when we really do not. "He that loveth his 
brother abideth in the light. . . . But he that 
hateth his brother is in the darkness." "For he 

68 



Regeneration 

that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
cannot love God whom he hath not seen. And 
this commandment have we from him, that he who 
loveth God love his brother also." Who is one's 
brother? 

It is easy enough to love those to whom we are 
attached by the bonds of affection, but the holy in- 
junction is, "Love your enemies, and pray for 
them that persecute you." God exercises such a 
spirit to a rebellious world lying in sin. "For if 
ye love them that love you, what reward have ye ? 
do not even the publicans the same? And if ye 
salute your brethren only, what do ye more than 
others? do not even the Gentiles the same? Ye 
therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Fa- 
ther is perfect." Here it is evidently claimed that 
the follower of Jesus Christ can do more, and go 
further, in the exercise of love, than the publican 
or the Gentile. To some degree he is like God, 
and God's love is no respecter of persons. To love 
only where the natural affections center is to love 
only as the common sinner loves. If one loves 
as the common sinner does not, and cannot love, 
he is something which differentiates him from the 
other. 

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Regeneration 

In relation to our enemies, the Golden Kule is 
the interpretation of this love. It is therefore 
under our direction, as a holy principle of right- 
eousness. It does not spring up from the sub- 
conscious self a spontaneous product, of which the 
first intimation of its existence is its presence. 
Nor does it demand, as necessary to its exercise, 
the marked presence of that natural affection 
which rightfully exists between chosen compan- 
ions or relatives. But it may ask for ministry 
where natural affection enters protest. Such 
might be the case should natural affection for our 
own children, divinely implanted, and right in a 
controlled degree, restrain us from exercising jus- 
tice and benevolence to others. "What is written 
in the law ? how readest thou ? And he answer- 
ing said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy 
neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou 
hast answered right : this do, and thou shalt live." 

The final evidence mentioned is "the fruit of 
the Spirit," which is "love, joy, peace, longsuffer- 
ing, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, 
temperance: against such there is no law. And 

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Regeneration 

they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the 
flesh with the passions and lusts thereof." This 
fruit of the Spirit is the moral result which the 
Holy Spirit brings about by his abiding and nur- 
turing presence. The graces named as the fruit of 
the Spirit are the natural accompaniment of the 
life of communion and communication with God, 
and are the distinguishing marks of the specific- 
ally Christian character. As the fruit of the vine 
is the highest expression of the fruit-vine life, so 
is the fruit of the Spirit the highest expression of 
the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence. 

But there are many commendable traits and 
pious exercises which have no claim to classifica- 
tion with the graces which are the fruit of the 
Spirit. They may arise from sources with which 
the Holy Spirit has little or nothing to do. The 
deep springs controlling motives and determining 
the moral shadings of the outward act must be 
under his control and find in him their source. 
Humane acts, hatred to sin, delight in the Bible, 
almsgiving, observance of church ordinances, zeal 
for religion or the church or benevolent societies, 
tenderheartedness, the giving of one's self to 
prayer and intercession, may all arise from other 

71 



Regeneration 

sources. One may even exhibit patience in tribu- 
lation and pleasure at the prosperity of religion, 
or suffer persecution for religion's sake, be will- 
ing to die the martyr's death, and have a strong 
hope of heaven, enjoy a reputation for piety and 
prophesy in Christ's name, and yet be far from the 
possession of the graces designated as the fruit of 
the Spirit. These graces follow the crucifixion of 
"the flesh with the passions and lusts thereof," 
and are the qualities of character which character- 
ize the "new man" begotten in holiness. They are 
all subject to the limitations incident to the fitful 
human instrument in which they are born, but 
when genuine they are definite witnesses to the 
new life-principle characteristic of the sons of 
God. Combined, they present the perfect stature 
of him "that walketh in a perfect way." And 
since "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, 
they are the sons of God," they prove the leadings 
of God's Spirit. 

The counterfeit is to be guarded against. To 
possess it instead of the real must work to our 
eternal undoing. The instinct of fruit-bearing is 
a native quality of the vine. The Holy Spirit is 
the fruit-bearer in us. Apart from him there are 

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Regeneration 

in us no instincts of fruit-bearing as represented 
in the graces mentioned as the fruit of the Spirit. 
Apart from Jesus Christ our course of moral be- 
ing flows on in separation from God. But the 
Spirit represents the Christ, and was sent to brood 
over the hearts of such as would give him a place, 
to warm them into the life through which he gives 
expression of himself to the world. Under his 
immanent presence the whole course of life pur- 
sued by the child of God is wrought out. He in- 
stills the idea of the heavenly life, and guards 
the path and guides the feet of the pilgrim in 
process of attainment. 

But our hearts linger. A most serious and 
practical question arises. After all, what is my 
assurance of salvation? How shall I unerringly 
interpret evidences of my acceptance? Jesus 
Christ is the only certainty of our salvation. The 
heart reaches out to him in faith, and if faith is 
strong enough to carry the weight, assurance re- 
turns on its support the answer of heaven's love. 
But no one may tell another how he may gain the 
assurance of his acceptance with God so as to pre- 
clude the possibility of doubt, and no one may 
receive solely from another's presentation that ap- 

73 



Regeneration 

plication of the truth which puts the soul at rest. 
That he must seek and find in his own way in a 
privacy with which no one may intermeddle. 

A satisfactory assurance is the proper privilege 
of all who have turned to the Lord with full pur- 
pose of heart. But let us distinguish between as- 
surance of the objective reality of the spirit-world 
and the consciousness of forgiveness. That may 
come as an immediate accompaniment of conver- 
sion, while this may remain to be found in read- 
ing and applying the divine Word, in leading the 
prayer-life, and in the scrupulous discharge of 
duty. After the wonderful phenomena attending 
Paul's conversion, one would think no question 
could ever arise in the apostle's mind as to the final 
outcome of his religious life. He was sure the 
Lord spoke to him, and he was convinced of his 
Messiahship. After three years of retirement and 
self -consecrating prayer and communion, the serv- 
ice he rendered to his newly found Master was un- 
remitting. He saw visions. He met every de- 
mand of his conscience. He saw the Spirit fall on 
them who heard his message. He suffered the dis- 
pleasure of his brethren, and endured chains and 
imprisonment. He rejoiced to be counted worthy 

74 



Regeneration 

to suffer for the Name. He knew whom he be- 
lieved and was persuaded that he was able to guard 
that which he had committed to him against that 
day. He was even caught up into the third heaven 
and saw what was not lawful to be communicated. 
And yet his assurance was not of such a charac- 
ter as to relieve him altogether from fluctuations 
and self -watch lest he should be found a castaway. 
The treasure is in earthen vessels. We have a 
thousand limitations to forbid the finding of abso- 
lute testimony within ourselves. Not often may 
our warfare completely vanquish old lusts and 
appetites regarded sinful. Doubts arise and be- 
cloud our faith, and the promises of peace vanish. 
Many persons living the Christian life are un- 
happy because they too exclusively seek to find in 
themselves evidences of acceptance and forgive- 
ness. But there are always two of us, and while 
one consents the other questions, so that we seek 
in vain within ourselves to find anything absolute 
to compel us into peace. We cannot be conscious 
of the act of forgiveness. That is with the Fa- 
ther. We are only conscious of being in the state 
in which one is who is forgiven; but we are not 
always conscious of the state in which we are. 

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Regeneration 

Our only hope lies beyond ourselves. "Have faith 
in God/'' The kingdom of Christ cannot fail. 
Christ has made himself immanent in humanity. 
In the surety of truth he has become our Saviour. 
"In him was life; and the life was the light of 
men. . . . But as many as received him, to 
them gave he the right to become children of God, 
even to them that believe on his name." All we 
can do is to make a complete consecration of mind 
and heart and body, of possessions and place in so- 
ciety, to the Lord's Christ, and for the same pur- 
poses for which he came into the world, and let 
him accept the consecration as he sees fit, to make 
the vessel unto honor, or unto dishonor. To trust 
him is the heavenly frame of mind in which we 
rise to heights to sing victorious songs, while mes- 
sengers of peace attend. 

Full assurance is the Christian's victory. There 
is peace in believing and fullness of joy that are 
heaven begun. There is a consummation in the re- 
generate life which involves the constant mani- 
fest presence of the Holy Spirit uniting the soul 
to heaven itself, into whose communion the child 
of God is brought through faith and oneness of 
spirit. And let no one fret himself because he 

76 



Regeneration 

does not experience full assurance; but let him 
seek to do better service, and to make a more com- 
plete surrender; and in the maturing of his Chris- 
tian character, when he has been too much ab- 
sorbed in service to look for assurance, he will 
discover within himself a certainty, the preeious- 
ness of which is beyond computation. 



77 



CHAPTER X. 

Child Conversion. 

The conversion of children can hardly be con- 
sidered without including some things which have 
a general bearing upon the religion of childhood 
and youth. As has been largely done in the pre- 
ceding chapters, so here no effort is made to fol- 
low theological distinctions. The primary thought 
is in accord with the query always arising as to 
the way in which God regards the child, taking 
into consideration his attitude to the race as shown 
in the plan of redemption, as well as the practical 
results following the conversion of children. 

What, then, is the status of the child in the 
kingdom of grace? The answer to this question 
must largely be founded upon inferences drawn 
from statements made in the Bible. We may 
justly infer that the child was included in God's 
pconomy of grace under the old dispensation from 
the fact that in the Old Testament the parents 



Regeneration 

were required to teach their children in regard to 
God's dealings with his people, and also in refer- 
ence to the significance of the more prominent 
occasions of the ecclesiastical year. The injunc- 
tions given are represented in the statement, 
"Make them known unto thy children and thy 
children's children." And the recorded instances 
of specific religions instruction given in very early 
life warrant the conclusions that this instruction 
was to be given in real childhood, and that such 
children were capable of receiving the informa- 
tion contemplated. 

In the New Testament, the Saviour sets a stand- 
ard with reference to ambitious rivalry, in the lit- 
tle child which he set in the midst of his disciples, 
and afterward took in his arms. He declared that 
they should not only not be preeminent in his 
kingdom, but also that they should not even be 
admitted, unless they became as the child. "Ex- 
cept ye turn, and become as little children, ye 
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
And then he points out the way to preeminence 
by saying, "Whosoever therefore shall humble him- 
self as this little child, the same is the greatest 
in the kingdom of heaven." And, further, he in- 

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Regeneration 

dieates the honor in which children are held in 
his heavenly kingdom by solemnly declaring that 
whoever serves the little child as belonging to him, 
serves him. "And whosoever shall receive one such 
little child in my name receiveth me." Then he 
pronounces the formal warning which we all need 
to consider, "But whoso shall cause one of these 
little ones ... to stumble, it is profitable for 
him that a great millstone should be hanged about 
his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth 
of the sea." This language of the Saviour, with- 
out violence, will at least permit the inferences 
that the little child is under such favor of God 
as to be in a saved state, and that it can be so re- 
garded, whatever is its capability of knowing, or 
of understanding, or of exercising faith, or of 
making theological distinctions. The scope of his 
language seems rather wide to compel its limi- 
tations to the single error of ambitious rivalry. 
It rather suggests the truth in general, in relation 
to the relative recognition of these two classes in 
the kingdom of grace. 

At the full inauguration of the later dispensa- 
tion, when it seemed evident that a new order of 
the kingdom was in manifestation, and that they 

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Regeneration 

must seek adjustment, they said : "Brethren, what 
shall we do ? And Peter said unto them, Kepent 
ye, and be baptized every one of you into the name 
of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; 
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
For to you is the promise, and to your children, 
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call unto him." If the chil- 
dren to whom the promise is included are to be 
regarded merely as the descendants of those to 
whom he spoke, the class would still include the 
small children. And after such recognition as 
Jesus gave to the little child, such an inclusion 
we are almost compelled to allow. 

This teaching gives the small child a peculiar 
place in the dispensation of grace. It marks as 
groundless that theological hair-splitting which 
requires so much of transmitted piety, and so 
many years of the fostering care of the church be- 
fore the child can be regarded as in a saved state. 
The fair inference is that by the grace of God it 
is a member of Christ's family before any definite 
act under its own conscious direction has had any- 
thing to do with the determination of its relations. 
Not having as yet chosen evil or committed actual 

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Regeneration 

transgression, it is a child of the kingdom, not- 
withstanding its Adamic nature. And, if so, the 
atonement must have restored to the race what was 
lost in the Adamic transgression, except what is 
included in the absence of the natural moral bent 
or tendency to evil, which we know by experience 
and observation now to be ever-present; and God 
must not count this tendency sin until it identifies 
itself in actual transgression. 

Then how does the child become degenerate and 
lose the honor in which it is held in the kingdom 
of heaven? It is now in a saved state. It also 
possesses in its nature the tendency to evil. As it 
advances toward physical and mental maturity it 
also awakes into a moral and spiritual conscious- 
ness. The sense of right and wrong awakes and 
imposes responsibility. The tendency to evil in- 
vites to a choice of evil, and the conscious choice 
of evil in violation of the sense of right is sin, 
and "sin when it is full-grown, bringeth forth 
death." 

Can the steps leading astray be retraced? It 
would seem reasonable to assume that when a child 
arrives at an age and a degree of intelligence mak- 
ing it capable of choices and acts involving a 

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Regeneration 

change of relationship to God, and causing it to 
enter the lost state, it has at the same time arrived 
at a sufficient degree of development to receive the 
instruction and to make the choice involving its 
restoration to its former state and citizenship in 
the kingdom of heaven. If this is not the case, 
then there is a period of longer or shorter duration 
in every child's life when, if it should die, it must 
forever be doomed to separation from God. With- 
out doubt the real situation is this : Every child 
is, in its earliest life, in a saved state by virtue of 
the atonement of Jesus Christ, and remains so un- 
til by its own transgression and choice it forfeits 
God's saving grace and becomes a prodigal. When 
sufficiently advanced in spiritual discernment to 
be capable of becoming a prodigal, it is also sus- 
ceptible to instruction and capable of making 
choice, to a degree sufficient to enable it to return 
to the Father's house. Whatever knowledge is 
necessary to such a return may be attained. What- 
ever faith is necessary can be exercised. What- 
ever choice is required can be made. In short, 
there is no lack of capability on the part of the 
child itself at any period to debar it from the sav- 
ing grace of God in Christ Jesus. 

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Regeneration 

What instruction, then, shall be given the child, 
and when? If the psychologist can successfully 
instruct the child while asleep in regard to proper 
conduct when awake, instruction as to spiritual 
verities and moral rectitude may in like manner 
be efficiently given before the conscience and the 
moral endowments have fully awakened. The 
world of the child in the crib is exceedingly lim- 
ited, but the mother repeats in sweet tones the 
lullaby of her love, and the babe soon learns to 
recognize it. Not very long will the limitations 
of infancy forbid the recognition of the love-tones 
in the story of Jesus the Saviour. And as the 
powers of recognition gain ground, things known 
will be joined to things unknown by royal avenues 
for imagination and inquiry. When to the won- 
dering eyes of the little one the moon is a ball of 
fire hung high in the skies, he will hear with relish 
of the Father in heaven beyond the moon and be- 
yond the sun. His comprehension is circum- 
scribed, but instinctively the heart will stand in 
awe before the mystery, and the God-idea will en- 
ter the child-mind, henceforth to remain as a fac- 
tor in the constructive process of its development. 
From babyhood, the facts of religion must be 

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Regeneration 

taught, and we must cease to hesitate lest the time 
of incipient apprehension be too early, and begin 
to fear lest already it be late to make the im- 
pression by instruction which will abide to deter- 
mine the conscious choice of God in the years to 
come. 

The child has everything to learn. What he 
will learn as to religion depends largely upon the 
faithfulness with which parents and teachers meet 
their responsibility in the matter. He is to be 
taught to think of God and led to know him, and 
prepared for a place in the church and in the king- 
dom of heaven. And if the soul is immortal and 
its destiny dependent, so far as his ability to de- 
termine it is concerned, upon right choices and 
acts, the instruction necessary to such a course of 
conduct is vastly more important than is that 
which prepares for society and business. 

The philosophy of religion has no place in the 
religious instruction appropriate to this period of 
life. A knowledge of the questions of theology is 
not necessary to an acceptance of Jesus Christ, 
but a knowledge of the cardinal facts of redemp- 
tion is vital. To know that God is Father, and 
that Jesus is Saviour, and that the Holy Spirit 

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Regeneration 

lives in him who chooses to be and to do what he 
would have him be and do, is enough to furnish 
a basis for a beautiful confidence and a loving ac- 
ceptance of the dear Saviour. Besides, the natural 
order of the mind is first to find "the what," and 
later, "the why." It is easier to accept a fact as 
truth than it is to determine why it is truth. 

But the facts of redemption are to be impressed 
upon the child not merely as abstract truth. Thgy 
are constantly to appear as standing in relation to 
himself. The Father in heaven is his father. The 
love of Jesus includes Mm. The Holy Spirit 
broods over Mm. He is not a great sinner outsiSe 
the covenant of grace, urged to turn to God by ac- 
cepting Jesus as his personal Saviour, but never 
to be regarded as having done so. He is a sinner 
when he has committed sin, but he is a saved sin- 
ner when in penitence he turns to the Father. He 
is to know that God is a loving Heavenly Father, 
just, but not far away, angry, or waiting to de- 
stroy; and that Jesus counts on him, and expects 
him to choose the right and refuse all wrong, and 
to depend upon him. 

He is not to be taught to expect some great 
moral transformation consciously taking place, or 

86 



Regeneration 

some strikingly conscious spiritual exercise of the 
mind, before God accepts him. Language that 
leads to unwarranted expectations must always be 
guarded against, for expectations not realized lead 
to distrust. The child's accepting Jesus as his 
personal Saviour is a simple process of faith, 
which, in any event, we could hardly expect to be 
attended by a complex and well-defined experi- 
ence. In all probability his chief experience will 
be included in his knowledge of the fact that he 
has determined to do and to be what Jesus wants 
him to do and be. The prof ounder depths of per- 
sonal experience vouchsafed to the saint of God 
will accompany the maturity of his consecration 
and service, when from other standpoints than 
those from which he now sees things, he shall be- 
hold the depths of sin from which he has been 
saved, and the significance of life's brief day; 
when he has learned to appreciate the unbounded 
love of Jehovah and to taste the powers of the life 
to come. 

The end of all instruction is to lead to an ac- 
ceptance of Jesus Christ, or to edification when he 
has already been accepted. And this we must ex- 
pect the instruction which presents God's truth to 



Regeneration 

accomplish in the child-heart to a very much 
greater degree than in the adult. In these sus- 
ceptible and teachable years we are to expect the 
sown seed of truth to spring up immediately pre- 
paratory to the later harvest. As the facts of re- 
demption become realities to the child-heart they 
are at once accepted with a fullness and a free- 
dom guaranteeing their mastery, and the artless 
confession goes. up: "Yes, I will love Jesus." "I 
do want to please him," "I want him to love me." 
"I must be a better Christian." To direct the 
promptings of the heart, and to gain the active 
consent of the will, are the highest ends of all 
preaching and biblical teaching. All else is to be 
regarded as incidental. For these purposes God 
gave his Word, and he declares with reference to 
it, "It shall not return unto me void, ... it 
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." We 
must confidently expect these highest ends to be 
gained under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and 
God's purpose to be accomplished according to his 
Word. And the church, and the workers in it, 
will no doubt succeed in holding the children, 
from whose ranks the future church is to be gath- 
ered, in proportion to their own faith in the 
L.ofC. 

88 



Regeneration 

immediate efficiency of the holy Word, when ju- 
diciously presented. May we not pray to be de- 
livered from that round of inconsistencies in re- 
gard to the conversion of children, which, with 
the promise that Jesus loves them, invites them to 
receive him, but when they consent and accept 
with an abandonment scarcely to be attributed to 
the hardened sinner in his conversion, repeats and 
re-repeats the process without advance. 

The world in which the child lives is very real 
to him; but he is living in the learning-period of 
his life. He expects to be taught, and not to 
teach. On this account the instruction necessary 
to lead to proper motive and choice and determina- 
tion and faith will be more promptly and sincerely 
received than in later life. He already more 
nearly possesses the spirit of Christ than he will 
in later unregenerate life. He has not yet gone 
far away from his Father's house in voluntary 
transgression. He is especially susceptible to re- 
ligious sentiment. He most readily assents to 
what he believes God asks of him. He is uncon- 
sciously and beautifully teachable. He expects 
new things, and they interest him. He accepts 
new things, which promise good, with relish. He 

89 



Regeneration 

is gathering together and absorbing what will 
make him a personality, a character. His sus- 
ceptible heart, his unseared conscience, his will 
not yet in bondage to habit, together with all the 
characteristics of young life, present the most 
hopeful conditions to be found in any period of 
life. If now he is taught in the fear of God, and 
his response to the instruction is taken by those 
to whom he looks for guidance as sincere, the pros- 
pect for a life given to things honorable and things 
godly is most flattering. 

Tests taken in widely separated places, and un- 
der various circumstances, have invariably shown 
that the greatest number of professing Christians 
made a public confession of Christ in those years 
just preceding maturity into manhood or woman- 
hood. When the earliest decision for Christ was 
made by these, and how many made the early de- 
cision who refused to make the later confession, 
will never be known. Nor have we at hand the 
means by which to find out how many make the 
the later confession who never made the early de- 
cision. But the probability is that but few turn 
to Jesus Christ in open confession, or crystallize a 
character of sterling integrity into whose early life 

90 



Regeneration 

the seed-truth was not by some hand sown to grow a 
decision for godliness. The plain inference is that 
the most fruitful field toward which Christian ef- 
forts can be directed is that in which are found 
the child and the youth; but this same period is 
also richest in opportunity to the kingdom of 
darkness. Absolute victory here, in most cases, 
means undisturbed possession for time and eter- 
nity. How fearful is the responsibility of par- 
ent and pastor and Sunday-school teacher. 

Since as to morals and religion the early years 
of life afford the best opportunities for leading to 
decision, the most untiring effort must be made to 
urge the choice and the acknowledgement of Jesus 
Christ. But these points will not be gained at a 
single bound. Earthly conditions do not afford 
unmixed good. No iron bounds can be set by us 
with all the good on one side, and all the evil on 
the other; but since the religious status finds its 
base more in the volitional than in the emotional 
nature, if the choice and the determination are 
tending in the right direction, they offer a hope of 
final mastery; yet the young Christian cannot be 
expected to feel and act as if mature in years. 
There are some feelings demanded by thoughtless 

91 



Regeneration 

Christians as marks of spirituality which are not 
necessarily religious at all. Some of these are un- 
natural to young life. Why should a young Chris- 
tian experience a profound sense of the brevity of 
life, or of the imperfection of our righteousness, 
or of the unsatisfying nature of all things earthly, 
or of the heinousness of sin, or of the deep de- 
pravity of our natures ? He knows nothing of these 
things. Life to him is sweet and long, and he has 
not yet observed the persistence and the destructive 
power of sin. And, thank God, spirituality does 
not consist of sighs and tears and lamentations and 
groans. 

The religion of young life has its misunder- 
standings and misconceptions. It is not always 
found consistent with the highest ideals of Chris- 
tian perfection; but neither is that of the adult 
perfect, though he may be adept in self-control 
and dissimulation by which to make a better show- 
ing. Young life is vivacious, and eager for life's 
pleasures and adventures. It laughs and sees 
through eyes beaming with merriment. Its 
shadow-clouds pass in an instant; but its opti- 
mism is nearer the truth than the pessimism of 
melancholy, for the world is not a waste howling 

92 



Regeneration 

wilderness, and if it were the Christian is not in it 
to be devoured. 

The child is in the kingdom of grace from the 
beginning. The inherited tendency to evil con- 
stantly invites him to choose the wrong ; but every 
choice of right and purpose to be good and to do 
good, every sorrow for wrong done and petition put 
up to God, and confession of transgression, and 
impulse of love to the Saviour, is a stepping-stone 
in the attainment of a conscious realization of son- 
ship, as in similar circumstances with the adult. 
With him there probably is a less definite con- 
sciousness of the complexness of the process. His 
conversion takes place simply when his choice is 
determined for God, and is fully as real and genu- 
ine and as trustworthy under proper instruction 
as that of others more mature. He is a Christian 
in all essentials if God is chosen, and sin is striven 
against, in faith and hope. 

Then let the child respond to his instruction in 
repeated confessions of Christ. When older, when 
he more fully knows what sin is, and appreciates 
the right, he will crystallize the choice which car- 
ries with it faith and repentance and every con- 
comitant work, and will pass the formative period 

93 



Regeneration 

of life, developing an increasingly positive convic- 
tion as to the facts of redemption and his personal 
relation to them. And let him also take the vows 
of church-membership with gladness and confi- 
dence, for "to you is the promise and to your chil- 
dren." 



94 



SEP 4- 1902 



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